Another Bedford company to close, more SA jobs lost
Administrators of Bedford Group have today confirmed that more jobs will be lost after making the “difficult” decision to close one of its key workplaces.
Bedford Group’s advanced furniture manufacturing business Dovetail will close on December 19 with 10 staff members to lose their jobs, after administrators McGrathNicol said it had undertaken a “detailed assessment of operations”.
Dovetail is a social enterprise that makes board and timber products at four sites in South Australia, and employs people of all abilities – backed by the disability employment services company.
Dovetail was meant to be part of Bedford’s social enterprise hub at Salisbury, which would have been the largest of its kind in the nation, former CEO Myron Mann told InDaily in May.
That project was part of Bedford’s now-scrapped $50 million five-year strategic plan at the time.
In a statement, McGrathNicol said Bedford’s Reynella and Gepps Cross sites would cease operations and supported employees based there would be redeployed to alternative locations.
“Regrettably, the changes mean 10 non-supported employee roles will be made redundant,” the McGrathNicol statement reads.
“The administrators are supporting these affected workers with information and appropriate assistance.”
McGrathNicol partner and joint administrator of Bedford, Rob Smith, said the changes were “difficult but necessary to ensure that all supported employees have meaningful employment opportunities into the future”.
“We will be working to redeploy supported employees have meaningful employment opportunities into the future. We will be working to redeploy supported employees to other parts of Bedford.
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“We recognise the impact the changes have on employees whose roles are redundant and their families, and are providing support and assistance to these employees as part of a transparent and respectful process.”
It comes after three Bedford Group staff filed unfair dismissal claims against the administrator, claiming they were given marching orders on the same day a preferred buyer for the company was identified in November.
Administrators claim 89 people have been made redundant since November 17 – 28 when administrators were appointed, 51 when Bedford’s food and beverage business Cultivate was sold and 10 today.
CFMEU SA secretary David Kerner said the union would move to lodge further unfair dismissal claims “as the administrator refused to allow annual or long service leave or leave without pay to long-serving workers to tide them over the Christmas period as the company restructures”.
Creditors are set to vote on the future of the Bedford entities at meetings on December 19 and December 22.
